{"id":25947,"date":"2020-02-13T19:31:06","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T00:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25947"},"modified":"2020-02-13T19:31:15","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T00:31:15","slug":"aurora-tigers-show-signs-of-improvement-despite-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-tigers-show-signs-of-improvement-despite-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Tigers show signs of improvement despite losses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s really not their fault in a way; we know as sports\nviewers that back to back games already test your stamina. Four games in one\nweek is a different animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Tigers have shown in this past week is\nresilience on another level. The team does deserve to be in the double-digit\nwin column if it was not for some first and third period droughts and all the\ndefensive mishaps interfering with that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But where credit is undeniably due is the improvement\nfrom all the players and the coaching staff. When head coach Jim Wells Jr.,\nsaid a few weeks ago that scoring is a problem, the Tigers now seem to have no\nissues with it. The boys sealed 16 goals last week in four games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the work put in earns that reward, when the defence\ncomes along shouldn\u2019t that happen too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefensively, we\u2019re struggling, there\u2019s no doubt about\nthat,\u201d said Wells, after the 8-5 loss against the North York Rangers. \u201cUnderstanding\nthe man without the puck is the guy that is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to add the boys need to identify threats,\nsomething he\u2019ll work on in practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could reduce the 25 goals that found their way into\nthe Tigers net last week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Balah and Sebastian Tamburro are the top two\nplayers on the roster, points-wise. But, over the past few weeks, players have\nbeen working on their game and improving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confidence is seeping into their veins at just the right\ntime; that way, when the season finishes and next year rolls around, they know\nwhat to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamburro and Nelson have been implementing drills in\npractice while on the ice according to Wells. They\u2019ve shown immense improvement\nin finding each other and creating chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braeden McKinnon has been since scoring his game winner\nagainst Georgetown a few weeks back, he has seemingly been a different player.\nHe wins faceoffs more often than not and recorded four points in four games\nlast week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough couldn\u2019t be said also about Aurora natives Jalen\nBalbosa and Luc Reeve. Reeve extended his point streak to five games, tallying\neight assists in the process. Even Balbosa with a point streak of five games of\nhis own, recording 12 points. Their playmaking abilities have given players\nlike Blake Frost the opportunity to score their first and second of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, aside from the points, it\u2019s the tenacity, the\nforecheck, the relentlessness to win battles that stands above it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goaltenders, Andrew Barwinski and Christian\nFilippetti, do everything they can to keep the boys in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be trite to say that only these players have\nbeen the difference. It is a team effort. Everyone is showing growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most notably, in the game against the Rangers, the Tigers\nerased a two-goal deficit, twice in that game, to give themselves the chance to\nwin. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about for these boys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AP, Curtis Boothe from the Junior C team Schomberg\nCougars made an appearance for that game. The Sarnia Sting draft choice was\noutstanding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After going down 3-1 in the first, Kaleb Nelson scored at\nthe end of the period and at the beginning of the second to tie it all up.\nAfter conceding another two goals in the second, Frost scored twice in the\nthird. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a matter of composure at this rate. Wouldn\u2019t it be? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because against the Stouffville Spirit at home in the 7-5\nloss, it was a 4-1 lead after the first. It seems as though deficits bring the\nbest out of the boys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final game of the week, away in Stouffville, the\nTigers led 3-1 heading into the third period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers couldn\u2019t hang on. The Spirit put 14 shots on\ngoal and scored four times. Yes, that hurts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final month of the season, the Tigers head out on the road for three of the last four games, stopping in Collingwood, Oakville and Burlington, before ending the year at home against Pickering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Belardi <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s really not their fault in a way; we know as sports viewers that back to back games already test your stamina. Four games in one week is a different animal. What the Tigers have shown in this past week is resilience on another level. The team does deserve to be in the double-digit win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Kv","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 13:58:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}